


Sentry Duty

by Daegaer



Category: Fix Bay'nets - George Manville Fenn
Genre: AU, Gay Victorian Soldiers on Mars, M/M, Social Class, side scene for On Her Majesty's Martian Service
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-06-03
Updated: 2004-06-03
Packaged: 2021-01-29 07:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21406279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: A friend of Bill Gedge's watches him with Lt. Bracy.
Relationships: Bracy (Fix Bay'nets)/Bill Gedge
Kudos: 3





	Sentry Duty

Private Fred Carr squinted, looking into the shimmering heat towards the hills. Everything was brown and dead-looking and he wished he were standing sentry duty on the other side of the fort where he could look at the broad silver ribbon of the canal stretching away from civilised parts into the wilds. He could look at the boats and imagine himself going off to make his fortune, or pretend that he'd joined the Navy and was leading some canal raid up against the natives. A man could make his fortune on Mars if he got the right memento in a raid and sold it, or if he got his discharge and could provide something the city folk wanted. He stared at the empty distant hills and sighed. He'd heard the men of the first regiments posted on Mars had found native statues and pictures after pacifying the area and had sold them to rich folk for hundreds of pounds. Some lucky swaddies had ended up with a _thousand_ pounds, so people said. He let himself think about a thousand pounds and all the things that could buy. It would buy pretty dresses, the kind ladies wore, that his mother thought he didn't know she longed for. It would pay for his family to move to a nice house where they'd never have to worry about rent-day again, and his father's cough would clear up. It would pay fees at some school for his brother where he could learn book-keeping and get a good position in an office. He didn't want his brother following him into the Army; it was a good life for a man, right enough, but when he thought of his little brother holding a rifle and facing an enemy as he had so recently faced the Martians, he shuddered. He'd keep just enough of the money to be generous to all his friends and get himself something nice too.

Something flickered in the air, and he leaned forward, straining to see it. An _ayit_, floating high and far from them, the other bored sentries all delightedly calling to each other and glad to have something to report. An NCO took their report and went off to the officers, not hurrying. The _ayit_ vanished into the shimmer and was gone. They didn't even know if it had had a rider, he thought in disgust, thoughts of the _ayit_ and a thousand pounds melting alike from his mind.

He looked down into the fort instead, hoping that someone was doing something interesting. It was too hot, however, and any lad with sense was inside hiding from the sunshine. He mopped at his face with his handkerchief and paused as the side door of the hospital opened. Bill hobbled out slowly, looking back with a grin as the door opened again. Fred pursed his lips as Mr Bracy came out, a couple of chairs held awkwardly, like he wasn't used to moving furniture. He put them down in a patch of shade and Bill sank down onto one, looking grateful as Mr Bracy carefully lifted his bad foot up to rest on the other. The officer ducked back inside and returned with another chair, which he put beside Bill and sat easily, opening a book and spreading it on Bill's lap. They bent over the book, reading to each other and laughing. Fred shook his head at the sight. What did Bill want to learn to speak with Martians in their own tongue for? Most of them could answer you in English and beyond that what did a man need but to be able to ask how much something cost? Bill got a cheeky look on his face like he was telling jokes and Mr Bracy laughed gaily, wiping his eyes and then ruffling up Bill's hair like they were friends. They bent over the book again and Fred heard a quiet whistle.

He looked up to see the next sentry down cock his head towards the steps, where a corporal was coming up. Fred straightened up smartly and kept his eyes on the horizon, ready to say he'd got nothing to report since the _ayit_. He glared out at the bone-dry landscape, stony faced, long after the corporal had taken himself back off to the shade and a nice cup of tea. How many times did he have to talk to Bill about this? At least it wasn't easy to see the side of the hospital from further up the wall; he was getting tired of defending Bill to the other swaddies. It was more than time he learned to stick to his own kind and to know who his friends were.

Fred sighed, forcing himself to be charitable. It seemed like Bill didn't even know he was acting so queer with Mr Bracy. It wouldn't hurt to have a word with him again, to watch his back, even if he didn't think he needed it watched. Let Mr Bracy amuse himself elsewhere, Fred would look out for Bill. That's what friends were for.


End file.
